If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that when we do get to celebrate a marriage we may as well make it as fun as humanely possible! just what Sarah and Mitchell made happen for their big day. “We just really wanted our wedding to be fun and celebrate our love and being happy! It was outdoors with the Sperry Tent and Frothy Float giving it a bit of a festival vibe. We didn’t want it to be too formal, just a really fun night with lots of eating, drinking and dancing!”

The pair, who chose a country homestead in the outskirts of Perth for their wedding, chose Felicity Found Photography to capture their day. Stay tuned for this one because alongside the colour, alongside the fun, are stories that will make you giggle, make you melt, and kick you off with plenty of inspiration!

The way these two first laid eyes on one another? Well, it was certainly unexpected laughs Sarah. “We both had been at a quiz night (on different tables) for Alumni of Mitch’s high school. Tables could dress to a theme and our table went as Pokémon so I was dressed as Pikachu (not my regular attire!) Afterwards, I went back to a friend’s house and Mitch was her housemate so that’s how we met. He was wearing a dressing gown and slippers so I don’t know what I was thinking but it certainly worked out well!”

Mitchell popped the question on a grand holiday, explains Sarah. “Last January, Mitch and I went on a  trip to Japan and South Korea. I had given him a few hints before the trip about how nice it would be to get engaged in Japan but he remained tight-lipped and straight-faced.

When holidaying, I am one of the annoying people who likes to map out the day so we get the most out of it, so most of the days were planned by me. One day, I had planned for us to go to Kiyomizu Dera, a temple in Kyoto. When we got there Mitch started telling me all about the Jishu Shrine, which is apparently a love shrine. It was very suspicious that Mitch (who is the opposite of a planned traveller) had done all this research about this particular “love shrine”.

Anyway, I got spooked thinking he would propose there because there were so many people around so being the control freak I am I said: “If you’re going to do what I think you’re going to do, please don’t do it here”. So I quite possibly ruined my own proposal but he never admitted if that was what was going to happen. So then about 1.5 weeks after that, on the second last day of our trip, we were in Seoul, South Korea. I had booked us in for a tour of the beautiful Garden of Morning Calm, which at that time of year has a lighting festival which is the most spectacular sight. Mitch was acting unusually quiet but I just put that down to the fact that it was a cool -15 degrees that night. There were heaps of people there too but Mitch stopped us in a quiet spot, got down on one knee and proposed! It’s a really lovely memory and I hope we can go back there someday!”

Beige and black was the name of the game for Mitchell, who, along with his groomsmen, wore pieces from Suit Vault. “They went with a black pant and oak jacket. We got the ties and pocket squares from Peggy & Finn to tie in with the bridesmaid dresses and flowers” notes Sarah.

Sarah donned a Jessica Coutures gown from Brides Selection. “It was one of the first gowns I tried and I absolutely loved it but didn’t think it could be that easy so I went to more stores and tried more on. I was still thinking about that one so took a couple of my bridesmaids back with me and fell in love with it all over again. The bonus was that when I went back, it was on sale! I absolutely love my dress, I felt amazing on the day and I love the way you can see all the details in the photos. I’m a teacher and when I showed my pre-primary students the photos the girls all said I looked like a princess which was super cute.”

Beans & Bunches styled the bright blooms for the day. Says Sarah “I was so in love with our flowers! I knew I wanted bright and fun flowers with a green, yellow and pink colour palette. A mixture of flowers with some natives included. I sent some inspiration photos to the lovely Stacey at Beans and Bunches and she took it from there! I was so happy when she delivered our bouquets as they were exactly what I had wanted in my head.

Stacey also made an amazing tree installation which we used instead of an arbour for our ceremony. She then repurposed this to the bridal table after the reception to help us save money! I would recommend Stacey in a heartbeat and she’s already doing two of my friends’ upcoming weddings!”

Beautiful venue Yoothamurra Homestead set the scene for the celebration. The bride remarking “We had both our ceremony and reception at Yoothamurra Homestead in Oakford, WA. We really wanted to have it all at the one venue but in separate parts so that you can maximise your time and guests don’t have to worry about any travel in between.
The venue was amazing and not a lot of people had heard about it which is part of the reason we were excited to book it. The property has a renovated homestead which sleeps, 18 people. The night before the wedding I stayed there with my mum and bridesmaids. It was so peaceful and nice to be woken up by birds chirping in the garden and have a leisurely morning being pampered without having to worry about anything. On the wedding night, the whole wedding party stayed there, and it was nice for us to not have to go very far at the end of such a big day.”

Mitch’s favourite wedding day moment? “Sarah walking down the aisle and seeing her for the first time in her dress. She had hyped me up with vague descriptions of her dress before the wedding so seeing her at that moment was perfect.” Sarah adding “My dad walked me down the aisle to “The Girl” by City and Colour. I listened to so many songs, trying to find the right one but I feel like so many are overused or obvious. I found this one which used to be a favourite song of mine and I played it for Mitch who also loved it. The amazing Dean Anderson who did all of our music learnt the song especially for us and played it so beautifully.”

The ceremony was a beautiful blend of tradition, and joy. “I loved our ceremony so much! Mitch’s family is Catholic so we chose to have a Priest (Father Jeronimo) officiate our wedding. My family is not Catholic but Fr Jeronimo did such a great job at making everyone feel welcome and special, regardless of religion. We didn’t want it to be too long (or boring) and Fr Jeronimo stuck to his 30-minute promise, creating a beautiful and personalised service for us. We wrote our own vows which was so special and I’m so glad we did. Mitch’s sister Jane did a beautiful reading of “The Bridge Across Forever” by Richard Bach. We were so lucky too because minutes before I walked down the aisle, it was raining and everyone had to take cover on the balcony. Then the sun came out and we didn’t feel a drop the whole ceremony (just some very cold wind which had my bridesmaids shivering).”

“Don’t check the weather forecast every hour of every day in the week leading up like I did!” laughs Sarah, when asked for the advice she would give to couples yet to tie the knot. “Unfortunately, it’s one thing you just cannot control and I guarantee it will work out no matter what. I really thought the rain would be the worst thing that could happen at our outdoor wedding but it rained most of our day and it was still perfect! Also, everyone says this but just soak up everything all day and in the lead up as it really is over way too quick!”

Says the bride “I actually loved wedding planning! I know lots of people find it super stressful and I think I would have to if we hadn’t hired Sarah and Holly from Confetti and Co. They took the stress away and were able to deal with all the logistical nightmares and boring stuff so I was able to actually enjoy the planning process like finding inspiration pictures (I have a huge wedding Pinterest board now!), stalking other people’s weddings on Instagram and sites like Polka Dot Wedding, and trawling Etsy for little details.

I highly recommend hiring a stylist/coordinator- it really is money well spent and allows you to enjoy the day and lead up as you should! I think Mitch would say his favourite part of planning was not having to plan at all and just getting a nice surprise at his wedding (although it must be said that he did organise the Portaloos himself).”

Photography was an important choice for these two, and needless to say, the newlyweds had zero regrets of their choice. “I think hiring Flick (Felicity Found Photography) may have been our best wedding decision (besides choosing to marry each other!)” admits Sarah. “Photos are such an important part of your wedding day as it’s the one thing you’ll have leftover to look back on at the end of it. When researching photographers, I would have looked at hundreds of people’s work and it was certainly not an easy decision as there are heaps of talented photographers in Perth. Something about Flick’s work stood out to me and from our very first phone conversation, we just clicked.

We instantly felt comfortable with Flick and knew we had made the right decision. On the wedding day, Flick just fit in so seamlessly that we didn’t notice she was there half the time and we had so many guests comment on how nice she was (she is really just SO nice). Not only that, her photos are AMAZING! We are beyond pleased and amazed at Flick’s talent. I love how the photos tell a story with all the little details and she has managed to capture candid photos of every single guest. I’m also so happy that we hired Flick for 10 hours as we were able to get some wicked shots of the dance floor and all the partying! To me, that’s such an important memory of the day so I’m glad she was able to capture it. I would book Flick again in a heartbeat and can’t wait till we can hire her again to photograph our future children!”

Guests gathered for a dinner reception in the marquee, Sarah hand making much of the decor herself. “My dad made all the table numbers and menu holders! I saw the menu holders made out of a copper pipe on Pinterest and asked Dad if he thought he could make them. He spent hours upon hours making prototypes and perfecting them to my standard and I thought they ended up looking so good and fit the vibe well. I also designed the menus and place cards myself just on Powerpoint! The dessert table was a mixture of Kmart boards and serving trays, styled by the amazing Sarah and Holly from Confetti and Co.”

A lamington cake, made by Amy’s Cakes,  was such a special part of the reception, says Sarah “I really loved our cake! It was a two-tier lamington sponge cake with berries and cream. I loved that it was different from your regular wedding cake and it tasted AMAZING. I think the lamington (and the native flowers) also gave the wedding an “Aussie” vibe which is very appropriate if you know Mitch who’s a typical “Aussie bloke”.”

Sarah highly recommends every single one of her vendors, including wedding planner Confetti and Co Events. “I think my thorough research and planning (and Excel spreadsheets) paid off as all of our vendors were phenomenal, and I’d be happy to recommend any of them.

The few that probably had the most impact on making our night incredible were Confetti and Co who helped plan and style the whole thing, including changing the plans last minute to account for the rain and extreme cold; Beans & Bunches for the most perfect flowers that really added colour to the whole day; TP & Co for their Sperry Tent, dance floor and lighting that set the scene for the whole reception;

Locale Kitchen for the superb feast they put on (the yummiest food!); Yoothamurra Homestead for the ideal location; Dean Anderson and Groove Night Avenue for the BEST entertainment all night long; and of course Flick from Felicity Found Photography – nobody I would rather choose to share our special day with!”  “I’m a teacher and before our wedding, a few of my colleagues secretly organised for my pre-primary students to write down some “tips” for a happy marriage. They made a whole book out of it, including some cute drawings and it is definitely something I will treasure forever. Of course, I had to share some of these with Mitch in my speech. Some of the tips include, “You should always say I love you”, “You should always say I like your dress”, “You should not leave dishes in the sink”, “If you have a fight you should say sorry I won’t do it again”, “If you have a fight you should hug and kiss each other”, “If you have a fight Mitch should buy Miss P flowers”, “you should play with each other” and “to have a happily ever after you should play with your favourite toy.”

And of course, like any reception, Sarah and Mitchell have their own fair share of funny moments. “One funny thing that happened was a sprinkler randomly turning on in the tent! Mitch and I had luckily ducked off to the house for a minute and when we came back there was all this water everywhere! We had some fantastic family members try to stop the water with chairs and wine barrels while Sarah and Holly ran to get help.

Poor Mitch’s Nana got soaked but she wrapped herself up in a blanket and was a great sport about it! Something that could have been a lot worse (it luckily happened after dinner as the chairs and tables got soaked) is now a funny story for us to tell the grandkids.”

For their first dance, Sarah and Mitchell took to the dance floor to an old favourite. “We chose the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons for our first dance. We both love Frankie Valli and thought it was the perfect love song for our first dance (fun and not too slow). It also reminds me of that scene with Heath Ledger from Ten Things I Hate About You.

We took three dance lessons with the amazing Inga from Inga Haas School of Dance and she was able to choreograph a dance that suited us and our (basic) ability level. We both really enjoyed the lessons and I think our first dance was a highlight of the night. It certainly wasn’t perfect but I was happy we remembered all the moves and Mitch didn’t break his back lifting me at the end.”

A big congratulations to you both Sarah and Mitchell! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us. Thank you also to Felicity Found Photography for sharing today’s beautiful celebration!